Stan Lee may well be the pop culture’s best-known 90-year-old celebrity, even if he likes to quip: “I tell people I’m only 89!”

Either way, Lee is no stranger to the international spotlight, as befits the co-creator of such iconic comic book heroes-turned-blockbuster-film-franchises as Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men. Nor is this perpetually active writer, editor, publisher and all-around media dynamo a stranger to San Diego’s Comic-Con, which he estimates he has attended annually for the past 17 years.

But when he appears Friday night, April 5, at Camp Pendleton, it will be in a guise that may surprise his many fans.

Welcome, too, the country-pop trio Gloriana, who he will introduce while hosting Friday’s all-ages show, which is open to the public as well as to military members and their families. Gloriana is perhaps best known for its hits "(Kissed You) Good Night" and "Wild at Heart."

Is Lee a country fan?

"My favorite music is show tunes, like 'My Fair Lady, 'Man of La Mancha' or 'Camelot'," he replied. "I love music that is inspiring and tells a story."

The national series is designed to bring live entertainment to military bases and installations across the United States. Lest anyone forget what this series’ namesake is best known for, all the concerts will be superhero-themed.

“I do a lot of traveling and I always bump into servicemen and women,” Lee said Wednesday, speaking from the Los Angeles headquarters of POW! Entertainment, the multimedia company he runs with veteran producer Gill Champion.

“The service people are so interested in what I’m doing and, mainly, in the Captain America and The Avengers’ stories. Gill and I know people in the music business, and said: ‘Why don’t we do something for the troops?’ The obvious thing seemed to be concerts. I’ll be there and sign whatever I can for them. It’s sort of the way Bob Hope did (with his USO shows), although this is nothing like that. But it make us feel good to do this and we’re going to introduce a new series of superheroes that are military-based, from all four branches, men and women.”

Tickets for military personnel for Friday's concert at Camp Pendleton are available at a discounted rate. The first 100 ticket-holders to arrive will get to do a meet-and-greet with Lee. In addition, each attendee will get an “exclusive Stan Lee Generalissimo comic strip program.”

A percentage of “topline revenue” from each POW! ER concert will benefit base Moral and Welfare programs and such charitable organizations as Wounded Warriors and the Semper Fi Fund. Gloriana performs at tonight's concert only; headliners, dates and venues for other concerts in the series are pending.

From comics to active duty

Born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922, Lee was still a teenager when he began his career in 1939 at Timely Comics in New York. (The company gradually evolved into Marvel Comics, which for decades has been synonymous with Lee's name.)